Yale Women Find Redemption at NCAA Regionals

Nov 15, 2008

The Yale women's cross country team competed at the NCAA Northeast Regional Cross Country Championship, hosted by Columbia at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Bulldogs finished in a very respectable 11th place with 341 points. The teams that will represent the Northeast region at NCAA nationals are Providence (36 pts.) and Syracuse (90 pts.). The Orange, ranked fourth in the pre-race regional polls, upended both no. 27 Boston College and no. 23 Stony Brook to grab the last automatic bid to nationals. The race was won by Providence senior Danette Doetzel in a time of 20:56.5.

The Bulldogs were led by in fitting fashion by senior-captain Kelli Buck, who finished 37th overall in 22:33.1. Finishing on Buck's heels was senior Bevin Peters, who ran 22:33.2 for 38th place. Freshman Jennifer Downing finished 81st in 23:19.1, junior Stephany Reaves was 92nd in 23:31.1 and freshman Anne Lovelace closed the Bulldogs' scoring with her 98th place, 23:36.9 finish.

While the Bulldogs will not advance individually or as a team to NCAA nationals, regionals was a good performance, especially after taking the tough eighth-place finish the women suffered at the Heptagonal Championship only two weeks ago on the same course into account. The Bulldogs finished three places ahead of their projected finish (14th, according the USTFCCCA rankings) and felled one Ivy League opponent (Dartmouth finished 13th with 433 pts.) and nearly defeated another (Brown finished 10th with 301 pts.). The Bulldogs have, in essence, rebounded very well.

The Yale women's cross country team now have one competition left - the ECAC championships, also hosted at Van Cortlandt Park, on Nov. 22.